Read Dead In The Water (Rebecca Schwartz Mystery #4) (The Rebecca Schwartz Series) for Free Online

tell her you can’t play?”
    She nodded, the back of her head going up and down on her pillow.
    No surprises there. I ducked into a bathroom and saw that I didn’t look awful at all, but ran a comb through anyway and headed back down.
    Esperanza was huddled small and miserable against a chair that would have held three of her, just leaning, not sitting down, as if at the ready for quick takeoff. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry, she just isn’t up to it. Do you live close by?”
    She shook her head.
    I tried to think. I didn’t want to leave Libby and Keil, assuming he was still somewhere about. For one thing, they hadn’t even eaten yet… .
    The thought brought me up short, it was so stereotypical. Maybe I did have maternal instincts.
    “Want to call your mom to come get you?”
    “My dad. He won’t be home yet.”
    “Does he have a machine? We could leave a message.”
    “My dad says machines are for yuppies with nothing better to spend their money on.”
    “Okay, honey. We’ll wait a few minutes then. Have you had breakfast?”
    She nodded, barely interested, finally getting up the nerve to say what was on her mind: “Can I watch TV?”
    “Sure.” She scampered off almost happily. Why hadn’t I thought of it? The world’s greatest babysitter and I wasn’t even taking advantage.
    It was forty-five minutes before her dad had made the round trip, and as miserable a three-quarters of an hour as I’ve ever spent. First I went to look for Keil, and despite my frantic wails of
Kiiiiiull
!, which must have pierced the neighbors’ eardrums, he didn’t turn up. Then I went up to try to talk to Libby and was rudely told to get out of there. Thank God Esperanza had opted out of the equation.
    I thought maybe I could drink my coffee in peace. It was cold, of course. So I made some more, but found I couldn’t sit still and relax. In fact, I didn’t need the coffee. I was on full-tilt adrenaline.
    I phoned my law partner. “Chris, I’m in a bind.”
    “You poor peach—you're supposed to be resting.”
    “Well, something’s come up. I need a judge in Monterey.”
    Quickly I sketched in the details. I could almost see Chris as I talked, stroking her long, gorgeous nose with a long, elegant finger, her face a symphony of sympathy; the project was close to futile, and she knew it as well as I did. Judges hardly ever overrule each other.
    As she well knew, judges don’t list themselves in the phone book. And not only that, with a problem like I had, I’d do well not just to pick one at random, but to arrive with an introduction. Chris said she’d phone around to find out if we knew anybody who knew anybody. But her tone said she thought Marty’d better say good-bye to her weekend plans. The back door slammed. “Keil? Are you all right, baby?”
    “I’m not a baby.” He spoke not at all defiantly, simply stating a fact.
    “I’m sorry. Can I make you some breakfast?”
    “That’s okay. I’ll do it.” He started rummaging about the kitchen.
    Again, the doorbell rang. And the telephone at the same time. Keil answered the phone and began speaking in low tones, making it unnecessary to ask for whom the other bell tolled.
    The man on the front steps was in a truly rotten mood. “I’ve been honking for the last five minutes.”
    “We were in the back of the house.” I stared at him, unnerved, feeling like a kid who’d been reprimanded. “Uh—Esperanza’s watching TV. None of us heard you.”
    “TV! She’s not supposed to watch TV!”
    Without a trace of a warning, tears arrived in my eyes and overflowed. I was crying like a kid in front of a perfect stranger—and the perfect part, from what I could see, was an apt description, at least of his physique.
    “I didn’t know that,” I said, like the five-year-old I felt. “How could I know that?”
    “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. It’s okay. She does it all the time, anyway. It’s no big deal. Really.”
    Wiping tears with my bare hand, I said,